Chili Beers

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Been reading about Chili beer, There was a Mr. Beer blog very recently about brewing with chilies and coincidentally a buddy of mine mentioned he has been liking a chili beer at a local microbrewery. I can't recall ever having a chili beer so I guess I am going to have to make a point of it. One of the MB beers is a chili porter. My question is whether there is a suggested preference for a base beer? Would you typically brew one from a heavier beer like a porter or maybe something lighter like MB Aztec?

Mark

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Been reading about Chili beer, There was a Mr. Beer blog very recently about brewing with chilies and coincidentally a buddy of mine mentioned he has been liking a chili beer at a local microbrewery. I can't recall ever having a chili beer so I guess I am going to have to make a point of it. One of the MB beers is a chili porter. My question is whether there is a suggested preference for a base beer? Would you typically brew one from a heavier beer like a porter or maybe something lighter like MB Aztec?

Mark

The Calaveras Chile stout is based off the St. Pat HME Church Nut Brown.

You can really experiment and go with chiles in a variety of ways. I just had an absolutely outstanding saison that was spiced with habanero. I did a strong belgian style ale and spiced it with ancho chile.

Then again, I was at a microbrewery a month or so back and had a habanero IPA that was probably the worst beer I've ever had.

So I guess in short, there are a lot of ways you can go using chiles in beer.

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You can really experiment and go with chiles in a variety of ways. I just had an absolutely outstanding saison that was spiced with habanero. I did a strong belgian style ale and spiced it with ancho chile.

Then again, I was at a microbrewery a month or so back and had a habanero IPA that was probably the worst beer I've ever had.

So I guess in short, there are a lot of ways you can go using chiles in beer.

Calaveras is based off of the Churchill's Nut Brown Ale, not the St. Pat's.

It's a tasty recipe, 76shovel, definitely worth trying. When I brewed it I used one Ancho Chile. Next time I'm going to use two.

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I have made the Fresco Chile Lime recipe (which uses the Aztec Cerveza as its base) a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It is easy to adjust the number of jalapenos used to suit your tastes (i would suggest starting with 2-3 as opposed to the 5-6 called for in the recipe). And it is a bit cheaper than the Calavera Chile Stout, as well (although I really want to try that one myself).

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I have made the Fresco Chile Lime recipe (which uses the Aztec Cerveza as its base) a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It is easy to adjust the number of jalapenos used to suit your tastes (i would suggest starting with 2-3 as opposed to the 5-6 called for in the recipe). And it is a bit cheaper than the Calavera Chile Stout, as well (although I really want to try that one myself).

I wait until the MRB sales that they have five or six times a year to pick up the more expensive recipes. I don't think I've ever paid full price for any that are >$30.

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Finally got around to trying to make the fresco chili lime but I am pretty sure all I'm going to create is a train wreck. First the chiles I had were way too mild but things were in motion so I rolled with them, added my lime zest and hop sack of chopped chiles to the boiling water, removed it from the heat, then the extract as usual. Then hoping to heat it up a touch I added 1.5 tablespoons of powdered cayenne pepper. Transferred to the LBK, pitched the yeast. It's been 3 days, the mix is murky but there is almost zero krausen. I am quite convinced this will be my first real flop but I'm going to see it through.

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Finally got around to trying to make the fresco chili lime but I am pretty sure all I'm going to create is a train wreck. First the chiles I had were way too mild but things were in motion so I rolled with them, added my lime zest and hop sack of chopped chiles to the boiling water, removed it from the heat, then the extract as usual. Then hoping to heat it up a touch I added 1.5 tablespoons of powdered cayenne pepper. Transferred to the LBK, pitched the yeast. It's been 3 days, the mix is murky but there is almost zero krausen. I am quite convinced this will be my first real flop but I'm going to see it through.

Can you see if there's trub at the bottom of the LBK? If so, that means the yeast are taking care of business.

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So I started this chile lime on the 13th, there never was much Krausen at all and at 9 days there's really no trace there ever was one. The trub level looks normal compared to other batches. Seeing little to no activity I am wondering if I should bottle at 2 weeks or go the usual 3? I don't know if time is my friend here.

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And 1.5 tbs of cayenne? That'll bring some heat.

I took a sip. I estimate I put in 1 tbs too much and there's not much "lime" to it at all. No experience here, what does everyone think the carbonation and conditioning will do to the heat, anything or would it be static? At this point in the game I think I made a hot, beer smelling liquid.

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You made a beer without a doubt. The chiles will put off enough oil to keep the krausen from forming on top of the fermentation. If you bottle it and give it some time (6 months or so) the heat will go away to a point.

Always remember that when you add spices to a beer think of how much you want to add and then cut that amount by at least half. Then if after you brew the batch there isn't enough for your liking adjust up on the next batch.

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Out of 12 740 ml bottles of this I have 8 left. I will try it one more time but I think this may get chalked up as a learning experience and I'll put the bottles to better use. I will do another chili batch someday but I went off the path on this one. It is hot, that's about all I can say for it.

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Out of 12 740 ml bottles of this I have 8 left. I will try it one more time but I think this may get chalked up as a learning experience and I'll put the bottles to better use. I will do another chili batch someday but I went off the path on this one. It is hot, that's about all I can say for it.

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Ya know, I do have several containers of frozen chili on hand after I got carried away with the last batch and it kinda took on a life of it's own. I will mix some of this beer in the next pot and let it simmer.